Columbus Circle (OD tells me it's no longer called the Time Warner bldg)

Saks Fifth Avenue light show- worth the (short) wait

This experience warmed my heart in early December:
When I got on the C train at 59th there was a young woman
playing the electric violin whilst hula-hooping in half a Santa suit. I
got on the train smiling, as did a father with two kids, who all sat
next to me. Another man sat across from us and, as we rode, he asked the
father if he could have his phone to take a photo of the family. The
father handed his phone over and the man took a couple of photos moving,
then a couple more when the train stopped. When he handed the
phone back to the father, he said, "Sometimes we get caught up in our
lives and we don't see ourselves how others see us. I wanted you to
see."

When the man got off
the train he wished the father and his sons a Merry Christmas and they
shook hands. The younger son said to the father, "That was nice." The
father then explained to the kids that if they had done anything even
the slightest bit differently in their day- stayed or left the party
they were coming from just a minute more or less, that they would have
missed meeting the man.

The father then showed me the photos on
his phone, which had perfectly captured his beautiful family. Then he
showed me the video he'd taken of the violinist, and then another video
of a group of subway performers from earlier in the day, who were
inspired when someone randomly started dancing with them- thus causing
them all to dance long after she'd left to catch her train.

When
my stop came I was too choked up to say much more than happy holidays,
but with all that's going on in the world, it was nice to see so much
goodness spreading with the slightest provocation.

I took 89 to see Santa, but it did not go nearly as well as it has in years past- both with Mr. Claus and the Easter Bunny. I blame Santa.